Category Archives: House of Lords

‘Enough is enough’: wave of strikes led by ‘fantastic’ women, says Frances O’Grady

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As she steps down, outgoing TUC general secretary says female workers’ jobs are undervalued

This winter’s wave of strike action will be powered by “a generation of women who are saying enough is enough” because the critical jobs they do are undervalued, the outgoing TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, has said.

As she steps down after a decade as the TUC’s first female figurehead, O’Grady said on Friday that thousands of women who worked on the frontline during the pandemic were now saying to ministers, “don’t take us for granted”.

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Sister of Alaa Abd el-Fattah accused in Egypt of ‘spreading false news’

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Complaint, which prosecutor has yet to accept, raises risk of Sanaa Seif’s detention during Cop27

The sister of the jailed hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been informed that a pro-government lawyer has filed a case against her with the Egyptian public prosecutor accusing her of espionage and “spreading false news”.

The news comes a day after Sanaa Seif spoke at an event at the Cop27 climate summit being held in Egypt, which was widely reported on. The case accuses her of “conspiring with foreign agencies against the Egyptian state, foreign agitation, and incitement against the Egyptian state and its institutions, and deliberately spreading false news.”

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Gavin Williamson announces resignation but ‘refutes the characterisation’ of claims against him – as it happened

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Former deputy chief whip Anne Milton tells Channel 4 Williamson used ‘leverage’ and threats against MPs

Sima Kotecha, Newsnight’s UK editor, has spoken to Tory MPs who are not surprised about the allegations about Sir Gavin Williamson being a bully.

Ian Murray, the shadow Scottish secretary, has said that if Alistair Jack, the Scottish secretary, was confident about defending his record at an election, he would not be getting ready to accept a peerage. Referring to today’s Times story (see 10.55am), Murray said:

We cannot comment on speculation about peerages. Alister Jack is absolutely committed to representing his constituents and working with the prime minister to continue to deliver for people in Scotland.

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Stop Eritrea’s ‘war-funding diaspora tax’, say MPs and lords

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UK parliamentarians call for inquiry into 2% levy on Eritreans abroad, amid fears that it fuels Tigray war

A group of UK parliamentarians is calling for an urgent investigation into the collection of a “diaspora tax” by the Eritrean authorities, which they say could have helped fund war in neighbouring Ethiopia.

MPs and members of the House of Lords want the government to launch a “full, formal, and fully funded” public inquiry into the collection of the 2% tax in the UK, and take “robust action to stop the practice”.

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Molly Russell: how family are helping shift narrative on online safety

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Ian Russell’s campaigning after his daughter’s death has made case for online safety bill unavoidable, says peer

The online safety bill’s progress through parliament has been paused, but it is hard to see that delay lasting much longer after the conclusion of the Molly Russell inquest.

The regulatory landscape for the online world is undergoing significant change in the UK and Molly Russell’s family have contributed to that shift after becoming prominent campaigners for improved internet safety.

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Keir Starmer urged not to abandon pledge to abolish House of Lords

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Exclusive: Gordon Brown warns plans to flood upper chamber with dozens of Tory peers proves urgent need for reform

Keir Starmer has been urged not to abandon a key leadership pledge of abolishing the House of Lords, with Gordon Brown warning that plans to “gerrymander” parliament’s upper chamber by flooding it with dozens of Tory peers proved the need for drastic reform.

Alarm was raised by the former Labour prime minister over a proposal drawn up by a political lobbying group for Boris Johnson to appoint up to 50 new Conservatives to ram contentious legislation through given a series of embarrassing defeats by peers.

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Boris Johnson’s plan to create large number of new peers comes under fire

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Lord Speaker raises concerns about public loss of confidence in parliament due to huge quantity of new and planned peers

Boris Johnson’s plans for a major list of peerages has come under criticism, with the Lord Speaker saying it could erode “public confidence in our parliamentary system”.

The House of Lords Appointment Commission (Holac), the body responsible for vetting peerages, is holding up the outgoing prime minister’s plans, Whitehall sources told the Sunday Times, who also reported that such moves could be restricted in future.

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Nadhim Zahawi makes U-turn on schools bill after criticism

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Minister scraps plans to increase DfE control of academy trusts, derided as ‘ridiculous attempt to centralise power in Whitehall’

Ministers have announced a U-turn on key elements of the government’s schools bill, scrapping or amending clauses that would have given the Department for Education (DfE) greater control over “virtually every aspect” of academy trusts in England.

The schools bill, launched by Nadhim Zahawi, has run into opposition from Conservative and crossbench peers for giving the education secretary a veto over appointments of school trustees, the power to rescind funding agreements and even determine the length of the school day within each trust.

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Ex-Northern Ireland secretary accuses Boris Johnson of ‘Putinesque tactics’

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Labour peer Peter Hain says PM is using Northern Ireland protocol bill to provoke populist row with EU

Boris Johnson is engaging in “Putinesque” tactics by using the Northern Ireland protocol bill to cause a populist row with Brussels when the EU is willing to compromise, Peter Hain, a former Northern Ireland secretary, said on Sunday.

Hain, who sits on a Lords subcommittee on the protocol, said Brussels appeared willing to compromise, but Johnson was more keen on engaging in a “parallel universe blame game”.

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Government’s Rwanda asylum policy is ‘absolutely shameful’, says Lady Amos

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Labour peer who is first black member of Order of the Garter says scheme threatens to undermine UK’s global standing

Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is an “absolutely shameful” policy that threatens to undermine Britain’s potential to lead in a changing world, the Labour peer Valerie Amos has said.

Lady Amos, who this week became the first black member of the Order of the Garter, said the scheme “sends a message” to other countries about “how seriously we take our responsibilities” to the UN’s security council and charter on refugees.

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Tories ‘bending the rules’ after missing deadline for publishing Lebedev advice

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Not releasing MI5 advice on granting peerage makes government look like it has something to hide, Labour says

Ministers have been accused of “bending the rules to dodge scrutiny” after Downing Street missed the deadline for publishing the security advice it received about granting Evgeny Lebedev a peerage.

MPs voted last month for the material to be released after reports that MI5 raised security concerns when the Evening Standard owner and son of a KGB officer was nominated by Boris Johnson to join the House of Lords in March 2020.

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Election schedules could favour compromise on government’s most controversial bills

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Lords signalled they are prepared to send bills back to Commons even at 11th hour before local elections

MPs and peers are set for some late nights over the next few days as government and opposition race to complete six bills in time for parliament to be prorogued by the end of this week.

Though the House of Commons leader, Mark Spencer, said business would conclude by Thursday – which would give MPs next week to get some shoe leather on the pavements ahead of the local elections – the Lords may have other ideas.

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Lords rally to protect independence of UK’s Electoral Commission

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Boris Johnson’s government faces new defeat over what critics say is democratic meddling

Boris Johnson is facing another damaging parliamentary defeat on Monday over controversial plans that would give ministers new powers to determine the remit of the independent watchdog that oversees UK elections.

A cross-party group of peers is this weekend rallying behind an amendment to the elections bill that would strike out key clauses which, they believe, would seriously undermine the Electoral Commission’s independence and open the way for political interference in the conduct of elections.

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PMQs live: Boris Johnson refuses to apologise to archbishop of Canterbury after criticising his stance on Rwanda policy – as it happened

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Prime minister refuses to apologise for reported comments about archbishop and denies criticising BBC’s Ukraine coverage

Asked if the House of Lords Appointments Commission ever approves people for a peerage, only for a peerage not to be awarded, Bew says this has happened, but that it is very rare.

He also says that, under his chairmanship, the commission for the first time rejected a nominee who was subsequently appointed by Downing Street.

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Priti Patel’s immigration bill suffers multiple defeats in Lords

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Peers find fault with many aspects of nationality and borders bill, in particular proposal to divide refugees into classes

Priti Patel’s nationality and borders bill has been ripped apart for a second time by the House of Lords as the government suffered more than 10 defeats over controversial proposals to tighten immigration rules.

Peers supported proposals to ensure that the bill complied with the 1951 Refugee Convention and challenged the government’s plan to redefine refugees into two classes based on how they arrived in the UK.

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Britons living overseas for 15 years to get right to vote in UK elections

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Change to law, ending 20-year battle by 100-year-old Harry Shindler, passes critical stage in Lords

British nationals living overseas for more than 15 years are set to get the right to vote in UK general elections, after a proposed change in the law passed a critical stage in the House of Lords.

The move will end a 20-year battle by 100-year-old Harry Shindler who challenged the 15-year limit on voting rights in the high court in 2016 and in the European court of justice in 2018. It will also deliver on a promise made by the Conservative party in successive election manifestos.

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Evgeny Lebedev peerage: Labour seeks to force ministers to publish advice

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Angela Rayner to force binding vote on release of information, including on PM’s involvement in decision

The government could be forced to reveal private advice over the appointment of Evgeny Lebedev to the House of Lords, amid evidence the security services had concerns about the peerage.

Labour will force a binding vote on releasing information about Boris Johnson’s involvement in the decision to award the peerage to the Evening Standard owner. Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, will demand the information concerning the appointment from the Cabinet Office.

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Chinese national trying to improperly influence politicians, says MI5

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Warning circulated to MPs and peers about woman targeting parliamentarians

A security warning from MI5 has been circulated to MPs and peers claiming that a female Chinese national has been seeking to improperly influence parliamentarians.

The “interference alert” names an individual “knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist party” with MI5’s logo at the top.

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Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly involved in PPE firm she referred to government

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Exclusive: Leaked files suggest Mone and her husband were involved in business given £200m contracts

Leaked files appear to suggest the Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, were secretly involved in a PPE business that was awarded more than £200m in government contracts after she referred it to the Cabinet Office.

Barrowman, an Isle of Man-based financier, may have played a central role in the business deal that enabled PPE Medpro to sell millions of masks and surgical gowns to the government at the start of the pandemic, documents suggest.

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Half of Tory ex-ministers take jobs in sectors relevant to former department

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More than 50 ministers under Johnson and May took posts with firms in sectors they covered in government

Half of all ministers who have left office in the Boris Johnson or Theresa May governments later took up posts with companies relevant to their former government jobs, the Guardian has found.

An analysis of those who left departmental ministerial roles up until the most recent reshuffle found more than 50 took up employment as advisers in industries where they had government expertise or as more general political consultants.

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